Friday, 28 May 2010

ValhallahanAn avid 2000AD reader in my early teens, it’s been over 10 years now since I gave it up, I forget the Prog number, but Johnny Alpha was long dead, Volt was Chief Judge, Nikolai Dante was new, Durham Red was hot and Sinister/Dexter were running out of steam. I forget the full reason why I stopped, but stop I did and I’ve hardly looked back. Occasionally I pick up a trade collection of the old stuff; Button Man is still excellent – Strontium Dog hasn’t aged quite as well.

Anyway, whilst visiting a relative in hospital in Squaresville I eloped to the trusty Newsstand to pick up some reading. Not being a fan of music journalism or celebrity gossip and thinking Razzle probably wasn’t appropriate reading for a hospital waiting room, I thought it was high time I picked up an issue of 2000AD.

The first thing that struck me was the how little had changed. This future fiction is firmly rooted in the past. There was trusty old Dredd, Dante: the newcomer (11 years ago), even some Invasion 1999 which is before my time on this planet, let alone my time as a 2000AD reader. The last strip seemed like some kind of supernatural Western, I say seemed because I couldn’t really tell. It was good and creepy though, stark black and white with the occasional panel of vivid colour.

All the stories were of high quality, but pretty much impenetrable, being as they were all mid storyline, and it’s hard to get into something based on 4 pages from the middle; you don’t even necessarily get an interesting bit. I’m sure not many people got into Star Wars just watching the scene where Han and Leia chat to each other in their loft apartment in Empire Strikes Back. Despite that, and despite the fact that Savage seems to have turned into Bruce Campbell in my absence, this was a really enjoyable read, it might even tempt me back to my first love.